Means for disassembling barrels from firearms



A. R. MEYER June 13, 1961 MEANS FoR DISASSEMBLING BARRELS FRoM FIREARMS Filed Nov. 10, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 NO vv NQOQ Q INVENTOR.

ATE hub R liq E T Z ZEA J. Q am f- June 13, 1961 A. R. MEYER 2,987,966

MEANS FOR DISASSEMBLING BARRELS FROM FIREARMS Filed Nov. 10, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ADlELUJI R ME ET BY j/. 225%; 9*

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2,987,966 MEANS FOR DISASSEMBLING BARRELS FROM FIREARMS Arthur R. Meyer, Springfield, Mass, assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Nov. 10, 1959, Ser. No. 852,154 4 Claims. (Cl. 89-14) (Granted under Title '35, US. Code (1952), see. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to means for increasing the rate of fire of recoiling barrel guns and is more particularly directed to a self-contained booster device which can be mounted directly to the muzzle end of the barrel.

In some automatic machine guns of the recoiling barrel type, the mass of the recoiling parts is too heavy to provide the high rates of fire required for effective operation against targets which are exposed for only a very brief interval of time. While this design drawback has been successfully overcome by providing a booster device on the muzzle end of the barrel to direct the discharge gases against a fixed portion of the barrel jacket in order to increase the recoil energy imparted to the barrel, such booster-equipped guns are not ordinarily utilized in the confined areas normally encountered in the interior of tanks or aircraft primarily because of the problems encountered in replacing the barrel. For one thing, the high rate of fire and the frequency with which lengthy bursts are fired from these guns soon render the barrel too hot to handle. In addition, the withdrawal of a hot barrel into the interior of a tank presents considerable danger in the event any gasoline or ammunition should be stored therein.

While these problems have been previously solved by utilizing the muzzle end of the new barrel to push the hot barrel forwardly from the tank or aircraft, obviously this desirable procedure cannot be utilized where the front end of the barrel jacket forms a part of a booster device by being designed to receive the thrust of the discharge gases.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a self-contained booster device for the muzzle end of an automatic machine gun which does not require a blocking portion of the surrounding barrel jacket to insure proper operation thereof.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a booster device of the aforesaid type which is also adapted to be utilized on a recoiling barrel.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a self-contained booster device for increasing the rate of fire of a recoiling barrel type of automatic machine gun which can be readily pushed forwardly out of the surrounding barrel jacket.

A further object of this invention resides in the provision of a self-contained booster device of the aforesaid type which can be readily and securely locked within the barrel jacket to provide a front bearing structure for the barrel of the gun.

In some instances, the undesirable features involved in the withdrawal of a hot barrel into the interior of a tank or aircraft compartment may be outweighed by the necessity for reusing the old barrel or for emergency cleaning of the booster thereon.

Accordingly, it is also an object of this invention to provide means for mounting a booster-equipped recoiling barrel in a surrounding barrel jacket so as to permit Withdrawal of the barrel from either end of the jacket at the will of the operator.

It is a particular object of this invention to provide a barrel and booster assembly with the above described features which will be of rugged construction, provide safe and rapid locking engagement in the surrounding barrel jacket, and yet which can be readily replaced from either end of the firearm without requiring any special tools.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal section of a firearm barrel mounted in battery position in accordance with the teaching of the present invention and broken away to show the means for retention thereof at both the breech and muzzle ends thereof;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing the position of the parts when the barrel is in the fully recoiled position thereof;

FIGS. 3-5 are transverse sections taken along the corresponding lines indicated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an isometric front view of the booster; and

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the barrel and the means for eifecting the locking thereof in the receiver of the gun with several of the parts being cutaway to show the interior configurations thereof.

As shown in the drawings, a typical gun in which the present invention may be incorporated is provided with a block 12 having a cylindrical opening 13 therethrough and a hollow barrel jacket 16 extending forwardly therefrom. Flange portions '14 are provided on each side of block 12 and contain axial holes 18 to permit the forward end of the gun receiver 15 to be mounted thereto.

Barrel jacket 16 is provided with conventional lightening holes 20 and is arranged to slidably receive a barrel 22 having a cylindrical booster 24 reciprocably mounted to the muzzle end thereof. As best shown in FIG. 7, the rear end of barrel 22 is provided with an annular groove 26 forming a circular flange 28 by means of which the barrel may be releasably connected to the other recoiling parts in the gun. The rear face of flange 28 is diametrically provided with a raised rectangular section 31 for a purpose to be hereinafter shown.

Barrel 22 is also provided with a narrow slot 32 extending longitudinally along the top of the rear portion thereof and arranged to slidably receive the downwardly extending lug 34 formed on the front end of a resiliently biased latch 36 pivotally mounted in the top of barrel mounting block 12. Engagement of latch 36 in slot 32 prevents rotation of barrel 22 without interfering with the longitudinal reciprocation thereof. Although the exterior of barrel 22 is forwardly tapered from a point immediately rearwardly of the forward end of slot 32 such taper terminates in the vicinity of the muzzle end of barrel 22 which is cylindrically formed as best shown at 38 in FIG. 1 to slidably fit into the hollow interior of booster 24. A plurality of parallel annular gas check rings 40 are provided on the extreme front end of barrel 22. Immediately rearwardly of rings 40, barrel 22 is cut away to form a longitudinal slab portion as best shown at 42 in FIG. 7 which cooperates with a pin 44 transversely secured in the rear end of booster 24 so as to extend through a portion of the hollow interior thereof. Such structure serves to reciprocally retain booster 24 on the muzzle end of barrel 22 while the shoulders on each end of slab portion 42 limit the extent of this reciprocal movement.

The hollow interior of booster 24 is restricted at the front end thereof as shown at 46 to form a hole 48 which is equivalent in size to the bore of barrel 22 and concentric therewith. A rectaugular channel 50 extends diametrically across booster front face 46 and is of sufficient width to receive the raised rectangular section 30 on the rear end of another barrel 22 as will hereinafter be more fully explained. A pair of spaced apart rectangular locking lugs 52 are radially positioned on the exterior surface of booster 24 adjacent the rear end thereof and a narrower but similarly shaped positioning lug 54 is so located on the exterior of booster 24 that the left side of such lug is substantially midway of lugs 52.

The upper half of opening 13 through mounting block 12 is interiorly provided at the rear end thereof with a pair of radially disposed rectangular passages 56 of sufficient width to slidably receive locking lugs 52. A similar but narrower passage 58 is located in the lower half of mounting block opening 13 to slidably receive positioning lug 54 and is located so that the left side of such passage coincides with the vertical axis of the gun. Locking lugs 52 and positioning lug 54 are so located on booster 24 that when inserted through the corresponding passages 56 and 58 in mounting block 12, retaining slot 32 in barrel 22 is angularly offset relative to the vertically depending lug 34 on latch 36.

The interior of barrel jacket 16 is provided with a longitudinally extending rectangular track 60 having raised parallel rails 62. The distance between the outer edges of rails 62 is substantially equivalent to the distance between locking lugs 52 and track 60 is so located along the top of jacket 16 that upon the insertion of booster 24 therein lugs 52 ride along the outer edges of rails 62 to prevent rotation of booster 24. Immediately forwardly of track 60, the interior of barrel jacket 16 is provided with a circular locking rib 64 whose continuity is interrupted in three different areas which generally correspond to the radial disposition of passages 56 and 58 but are angularly offset therefrom to a slight extent so as to partially lie in the path of lugs 52 and 54 and thereby block continued forward movement of booster 24 and consequently of barrel 22. Spaced forwardly of locking rib 64 by an amount substantially equivalent to the length of locking lugs 52 are longitudinal spline portions 65 terminating at the extreme muzzle end of jacket 16 to form passages 66 and 68 which correspond to passages 56 and 58 in structure and radial disposition. Such structure provides radially disposed locking channels 70 arranged for the corresponding entry of locking lugs 52 and positioning lug 54 upon the rotation imparted to booster 24 as barrel 22 is rotated to bring latch lug 34 into engagement with the narrow longitudinal slot 32 in the upper surface thereof. The rotation of booster 24 is limited by a pin 72 ex tending into the interior of jacket 16 and disposed adjacent the end of one of channels 70 as best illustrated in FIG. 7.

Thus, when it is desired to replace barrel 22, the remaining recoiling parts (not shown) in the receiver of the gun are removed and the new barrel is inserted so that the rectangular channel 50 in the front face 46 of booster 24 thereon engages the mating raised rectangular section 30 on the breech end of the old barrel 22. Then by depressing latch 36 to lift lug 34 thereon out of engagement with barrel slot 32 and rotating the new barrel in a counterclockwise direction, booster 24 on the old barrel will be rotated so as to withdraw locking lugs 52 and positioning lug 54 from locking channels 70. This rotation is continued until one of locking lugs 52 contacts stop pin 72 whereupon lugs 52 and 54 will be in alignment with the corresponding passages 66 and 68 in the front end of barrel jacket 16. At such time positioning lug 54 on the new barrel 22 will become aligned with the narrower passage 58 in mounting block 12 and thereby permit such new barrel to be pushed forwardly into jacket 16 until locking lugs 52 thereon contact the corresponding sections of circular locking rib 64. During this movement of the new barrel 22 the old barrel will, of course, be pushed forwardly out of the front end of barrel jacket 16. Thereafter, rotation of the new barrel in a clockwise direction will rotate lugs 52 and 54 into the respective locking channels 70 therefor until halted by contact of one of lugs 52 with stop pin 72. At this time, slot 32 in the breech end of barrel 22 will be aligned for engagement of depending lug 34 upon release of pressure on barrel latch 36. Thereupon, the new barrel will be properly oriented in the firearm for reciprocal movement in response to the firing of the gun and the booster 24 will be properly locked in the barrel jacket 16 to direct a portion of the discharge gases which exit from the bore of the barrel rearwardly against the muzzle end thereof for increasing the recoil energy imparted thereto by the discharge of a cartridge.

In the event it is preferred to retain possession of the used barrel 22, a second barrel can be used to unlock the booster in the manner described above and thereafter the used barrel may be manually withdrawn rearwardly from barrel jacket 16. If too hot to handle, the barrel extension (not shown) may be reassembled to barrel 22 for effecting the complete withdrawal thereof from barrel jacket 16.

Thus, there is here provided a novel booster device which can be mounted to the muzzle end of the barrel so as to provide a self-contained unit which does not require an additional part or a portion of the barrel jacket for proper operation thereof. As a result, replacement of the booster can be accomplished without the complicated assembly and disassembly procedures required in the prior art structures. In addition, the provision of such a self-contained booster permits disassembly of the barrel from either end of the barrel jacket without requiring special tools. Furthermore, the booster device is arranged to serve as a front bearing for the reciprocating barrel thereby eliminating the necessity for the additional parts ordinarily installed in the front end of the barrel jacket to insure such bearing function.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail herein, it is evident that many variations may be devised within the spirit and scope thereof and the following claims are intended to include such variations.

I claim:

1. In a gun having a barrel jacket, a barrel slidably mounted in the jacket for recoil movement responsive to the discharge of a cartridge, and a booster slidably secured to the muzzle end of the barrel, the improvement of means for mounting the barrel to permit the selective removal thereof from either end of the jacket, comprising a plurality of radially disposed locking lugs on the exterior of the booster, a plurality of longitudinal passages radially disposed about the interior of the barrel jacket adjacent the front and rear ends thereof and circumferentially spaced in correspondence with the radial disposition of said locking lugs on said booster, the interior of the barrel jacket being also provided with a plurality of circumferentially extending locking channels disposed immediately rearwardly of said front end passages and of sufficient width to slidably receive said locking lugs on the booster upon rotation of the barrel, and latch means in the barrel jacket for slidably retaining the barrel against rotation whereby the booster is releasably locked to the barrel jacket to serve as a front bearing for the barrel.

2. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein one of said locking lugs is of different size and one of said radially disposed passages at the front and rear ends of the barrel is correspondingly sized and disposed coincident with the vertical axis of the gun to properly orient the barrel for assembly into the barrel jacket.

3. The combination defined in claim 1 including means for terminating the forward movement of the barrel during the assembly thereof into the barrel jacket so that said locking lugs are in circumferential alignment with said locking channels, and stop means in one of said lock- 5 ing channels for limiting the circumferential movement of said locking lugs therein.

4. In a gun having a barrel jacket and a barrel slidably mounted therein for recoil movement responsive to the discharge of a cartridge, a self-contained booster slidably secured to the muzzle end of the barrel, a plurality of locking lugs on the exterior surface of said booster, the barrel jacket having passage means at the front and rear ends thereof for the longitudinal exit and entry of said booster locking lugs, a plurality of radially disposed channels extending circumferentially about the interior of the barrel jacket for releasably receiving said locking lugs therein to lock the booster against longitudinal move- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,124,075 Moore July 19, 1958 

